1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of vehicular wheelchair lifts for persons who are physically challenged or otherwise have limited mobility. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of powered wheelchair lifts with automatically foldable platforms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vehicular wheelchair lifts are widely utilized to assist persons in wheelchairs to get in and out of vehicles. One known type of wheelchair lift is manufactured by the Wako Industry Company, Ltd., a Japanese company which provides a foldable platform wheelchair lift having a hydraulic power control to move the lift among three interval positions, i.e., a vertical stowed position inside a vehicle, an entry position substantially horizontal and coplanar to the vehicle floor, and a ground position to load or unload a wheelchair on or off the platform. The lift operations are automatic power controlled. The folding/unfolding operations of the platform are manual controlled. The lift platform has two pivotable sections in which an outer section can pivot relative to an inner section so that the loading surface of those two sections can be first folded to face each other (the outer section pivots relative to the inner section 180xc2x0, flip over and rest on the top of the inner section) and then the inner section pivots again toward the interior of the vehicle along with the outer section to a vertical stowed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,436 issued to Rice et al. on Oct. 12, 1982 discloses a manual wheelchair lift for moving a wheelchair and its occupant to and from the floor of the vehicle. The lift includes a mounting apparatus and a support assembly movably mounted to the mounting apparatus for being pivotally or translationally movable between a storage position and an outwardly extending operating position. The lift can be operated by an electric power control to move up and down. A platform structure includes an outer platform member and an inner platform member. The platform can be manually folded between a storage position and a loading position. The platform is folded in the following manner. The outer platform member pivots 180xc2x0 to a storage position overlying the inner platform member and the folded configuration of the inner and outer platform members additionally folded about the pivot axles to a vertical orientation (pivoting 90xc2x0) to the final storage position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,450 issued to Savaria on Aug. 13, 1985 discloses a vehicular wheelchair lift assembly installed in a vehicle providing a clear door access even when it is in a stored position. The lift assembly comprises a platform which is made of a frame supporting two independent sections displaceable between a coplanar position and a transverse position. The platform is rotatable between an upstanding stored position inside the vehicle and an outside intermediate position level parallel with the vehicle floor and moveable from that position to the ground and inversely.
It is desirable to further design and develop a powered wheelchair lift with an automatic foldable platform assembly which folds into two platform plates such that the two plates are collapsed transversely cross the platform assembly during the swing-up stowaway motion and unfolds the platform assembly during the swing-down deployment motion to unfold the two plates into a substantially horizontal position and coplanar to each other between entry and ground positions. The folded platform assembly is hidden inside the vehicle because of its low vertical stowing profile which creates more visibility of the vehicle opening or windows and requires less stowing/stowage height and space than existing wheelchair lifts. It is also desirable to provide a powered wheelchair lift with a foldable platform assembly with a substantially extended usage length and limited vehicle stowage space which are required sometimes in large trains or commercial transit vehicles, etc.
The present invention is a powered vehicular wheelchair lift with an automatic folding platform assembly for persons who are physically challenged or otherwise have limited mobility.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular wheelchair lift with a foldable platform assembly, where the wheelchair lift is mounted within a vehicle such that the platform assembly is foldable to form a vertical low profile arrangement in a stowed position within the vehicle.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular wheelchair lift which is fully automatic in both raising/lowering and unfolding/folding of the platform assembly.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a vehicular wheelchair lift with a foldable platform assembly which folds into two plates such that the two plates are collapsed transversely cross the platform assembly during the swing-up stowaway motion, and also unfolds the platform assembly during the swing-down deployment motion to open the two plates into a substantially horizontal position and coplanar to each other.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicular wheelchair lift with a foldable platform assembly with a substantially extended usage length which is required sometimes in large trains or commercial transit vehicles, etc.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicular wheelchair lift with a foldable platform assembly which folds into two plates such that the two plates are collapsed transversely cross the platform assembly during the swing-up stowaway motion, and also unfolds the platform assembly during the swing-down deployment motion to unfold the two plates into a substantially horizontal position and coplanar to each other. Each plate further includes a smaller innermost plate which folds transversely cross the platform assembly for allowing a person to step cross the wheelchair lift even when it is in the stowed position to facilitate entering or exiting of the vehicle and further facilitates a person to load and unload objects from the vehicle.
Described generally, the present invention is a wheelchair lift for use in conjunction with a vehicle having a vehicle opening and a floor. The wheelchair lift includes a mounting assembly mounted to the vehicle floor adjacent to the vehicle opening. It may be actuated by a hydraulic actuating system which includes a pair of hydraulic cylinders mounted on opposite sides of a pair of relative parallelogram linkage structures of the wheelchair lift. The wheelchair lift also has a foldable platform assembly which includes two plates hingeably connected along their adjacent transverse edges, where the platform assembly moves from a stowed position inside the vehicle to an entry position at the vehicle opening and inversely (i.e., from the entry level position to the stowed position), and moves the platform assembly between the entry level position and a ground level position outside the vehicle and inversely (i.e., from the ground level position to the entry level position). The wheelchair lift further has means for facilitating the unfolding of the platform assembly as the platform assembly moves from the swing-down deployment motion (from the stowed position to the entry level position) to unfold the two plates into a substantially horizontal position and coplanar to each other, and also the folding of the platform assembly as the platform assembly moves during the swing-up stowaway motion (entry level position to the stowed position). With this arrangement, the platform assembly can be automatically unfolded and deployed at the entry level position, and further moved to the ground level position in the unfolded condition and inversely, and automatically folded and stowed at the stowed position to form a vertical low profile, which creates more visibility of the vehicle opening.
In order to clear the door clearance in a vehicle, the prior art wheelchair lift was determined by the door size and shape. Therefore, the lift was sometimes installed tilted inward or positioned far inside from the door to avoid the interference with the door, or a small platform was chosen so as to meet the door clearance requirement. By having the present invention foldable platform, a wide range of platform sizes as per a customer""s preference can be installed with a limited stowage room in the vehicle, and the lift can be installed flat to the floor, not tilted (safety) and allowed the lift to be installed closer to the door.
Further novel features and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, discussion and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the drawings.